Saudi efforts praised as UN backs Syria road map

Agencies – Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh has expressed his country’s appreciation of Saudi Arabia’s efforts for hosting the recent conference in Riyadh for Syrian opposition.
Judeh said the convening of Syrian opposition leaders in Riyadh paved the way for launching a political process which, everyone hopes, would lead to a political solution to the crisis.
He said UN Security Council’s resolution No. 2254 draws a road map for achieving a political solution in Syria.
He said the unanimous adoption of the resolution in New York offers the required momentum to achieve a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
Friday’s New York talks were the first by the International Syria Support Group since Saudi Arabia hosted the coalition of Syria opposition groups in Syria.
The UN resolution marks the start of a sustainable path for a political solution that forms the basis for a comprehensive cease-fire, with the exception of terrorist organizations such as Daesh so that international efforts could be focused on eradicating terrorism.
The UN-backed road map was described as unrealistic by the Istanbul-based National Coalition, the main Syrian opposition grouping.
The resolution “undermines the outcome of the meetings of revolutionary forces in Riyadh and waters down previous UN resolutions concerning a political solution in Syria,” coalition head Khaled Khoja said on Twitter.
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Fellow coalition member Samir Nashar said: “Given the reality on the ground and the impasse on the fate of Bashar Assad, the agreement is absolutely not applicable.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized that victory over Daesh hinges on a peaceful settlement in the broader Syrian civil war.
“We know that Daesh can never be allowed to gain control in Syria so we have a global imperative here to deal with a terrorist entity but also to end the civil war,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
“President Assad in our judgment… has lost the ability, the credibility to be able to unite the country and to provide the moral credibility to be able to govern it.”